Wildlife, Entertainment, Walkable Dining Districts

More of Our Favorite Orlando Hotels

Photography courtesy of Ava MediterrAegean

While you’re far from the blue-and-white palettes and southern European vibes of a Greek island here in the heart of Park Avenue’s upscale boutique and cafe drag, the flavors are suitably transporting at Ava MediterrAegean. Dressed to impress, diners clink cocktails over shared platters of mezze and quintessential Greek dishes like flambéed haloumi cheese, grilled octopus with ink aïoli, and spanakopita.

Centuries-old oak trees draped with Spanish moss line 50 acres of themed gardens and lakes at this botanical oasis within a few minutes of downtown Orlando. With beautiful walking trails for exploring, Harry P. Leu Gardens (leugardens.org) encompasses an expansive rose garden, tropical fruit tree collection, and a palm garden with more than 300 species of Florida’s emblematic tree. In bloom year-round, it might be most impressive from December to mid-March, when camellia season is in full effect and thousands of the pink, white, and red blossoms burst into peak color. 

Downtown Orlando’s shimmering skyscrapers and luxury condos and Thornton Park’s bungalows and brick homes meet in the middle at Lake Eola Park (orlando.gov). Here, the city’s centerpiece body of water, formed by a natural sinkhole, is ringed by a busy walking trail that leads pedestrians and joggers past a Chinese temple, a playground, the open-air Orlando Farmer’s Markets on Sunday mornings, and plenty of ducks and swans carousing for handouts. For something kitsch but totally fun, rent a pedal-powered, swan-shaped boat and burn some calories getting out to the lake’s centerpiece fountain and a nearby tiny island, where double-breasted cormorants often gather to dry their wings in the sun.

For window-shopping and leisurely people-watching, the Park Avenue District in the tony town of Winter Park (to the northeast of downtown Orlando) beats to a European-style cadence (parkavenuedistrict.com). Canopies of mature oak trees shade the cobblestone streets and boutiques sell everything from bespoke stationery products and locally sourced gourmet foods to handcrafted jewelry and trendy eyewear. Listen for the whistle of Amtrak’s Floridian train, which passes through Winter Park’s Craftsman-style depot, right off Park Avenue. Nearby, the 11-acre Central Park is known for the gorgeous rose garden and bronze peacock fountain at its southern end.

Today’s itinerary mixes cultural forays and deep dives into Central Florida’s wild side, so you’ll want to fuel up. A stone’s throw from downtown Orlando in lakefront Ivanhoe Village, White Wolf Cafe was once an antique shop and still glows with colorful Tiffany-style lamps (whitewolfcafe.com). Come for sticky cinnamon rolls jumbo enough to share, fluffy pancakes, and buttermilk country-fried chicken with grits. 

Orlando’s cultural offerings can be easy to overlook in the flashing faux fun of the theme parks. So it’s all the nicer to find a clutch of diverse museums lining the shaded sidewalks of Loch Haven Cultural Park (orlando.gov). Stroll through the leafy grounds to visit the Orlando Museum of Art’s Art of the Ancient Americas collection and other permanent exhibitions; The Mennello Museum of American Art; and the Orlando Science Center’s $13.5 million attraction, Life, with ocean, rainforest and swamp environments. You’ll also come across Shakespeare Theater and the Orlando Fire Museum, inside a historic red brick firehouse.

Photography courtesy of Briarpatch Restaurant

Ask anyone for their favorite breakfast spot in Winter Park and they’re bound to tell you it’s The Briarpatch Restaurant, which has been doing brisk business behind its unmissable yellow awnings since 1980. You’ll get in a tad quicker at lunchtime, when casual ladies who lunch and co-eds from nearby Rollins College converse over generous Cobb salads, thick disks of fried green tomatoes dipped into jalapeno sour cream, roasted turkey sandwiches, and the like.

There are several famous chains of lakes scattered around the Orlando area. But the six bodies of freshwater lined with towering cypress trees and connected by narrow canals that make up the Winter Park Chain are arguably the most beautiful. Head out on an aquatic adventure with Otter Paddle Orlando and you’ll learn to glide atop a paddle board that can be operated standing up or sitting down (in a kayak-style seat) for an eye-level look at some of Central Florida’s most stately mansions. Your guide might point out nesting osprey, anhingas, king fishers, and other native Florida birds along the way.

Book the Winter Park Paddle Adventure at GetYourGuide.com

Long before many other U.S. cities manage to attract them to their stages, Broadway and Disney shows have a tendency to arrive at the Dr. Philips Center for the Performing Arts, a 2,700-seat theater that sprawls across two city blocks in the heart of downtown Orlando (drphilipscenter.org). If the marquee production doesn’t call your name, check out the smaller Judson’s Live venue onsite – a listening room-style experience with just 150 seats that regularly hosts jazz, soul, and Latin artists from around the world.

What it lacks in ocean and gulf front real estate Central Florida makes up to water-lovers in the form of turquoise-hued natural freshwater springs. North of Orlando at Wekiwa Springs State Park, crystal clear water gushes up from the springhead at a rate of 43 millions gallons a day (floridastateparks.org). You can snorkel in waters as clear as a looking glass or rent a kayak or canoe to explore the Wekiwa River or nearby Rock Springs Run, where alligators can sometimes be spotted sunning along the riverbanks. 

There’s nothing like a dip in brisk spring-fed water to stoke your appetite. And it’s a hoot to find a hearty taste of Oktoberfest at Hollerbach’s German Restaurant in the town of Sanford, where traditional German fare like Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes), huge veal schnitzels, and Spätzle (Swabian egg noodles) get proffered by stein-toting servers sometimes decked out in lederhosen and dirndls. Around the corner, the restaurant’s market sells German wines and deli meats and cheeses you can bring home.

For a good chance at safely spotting Florida’s most iconic reptile in the wild, set off on four wheels along the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive (sjrwmd.com). You can download an audio tour for this self-guided drive along the 11-mile Lake Apopka North Shore route of Florida’s fourth-largest lake. Lake Apopka is teeming with an estimated 4,600 alligators, and you’ll likely spot more than a few within a few yards of your car, lounging along the lakeshore. More than 300 bird species as well as varied land mammals have been documented here, too, including bald eagles, red-shouldered hawks, bobcats, and coyotes.

For a stroll back in civilization, Celebration Town Center fronts Lake Rianhard, which is circled by a wheelchair and stroller-friendly boardwalk trail where you can walk or rent a bike to pedal the scenic .7-mile loop (celebrationtowncenter.com). The master-planned community’s signature pastel-colored facades along Front Street and Market Street are lined with shops, bakeries, and cafes. It’s pleasant enough just to settle into a lakefront rocking chair to soak up the relaxed late-afternoon promenade of passersby.

Whirling 400 feet above the spectacle of the region’s many parks glittering to the horizon is a sure way to finish on a high. Ensconced in your private capsule on the Orlando Eye at Icon Park Orlando (iconparkorlando.com), it takes about 20 minutes to make a full and fancy-free revolution from the ground to elevation and back down to Earth again. For even faster thrills, the Orlando StarFlyer dubs itself the world’s tallest stand-alone swing ride and whirls you around a giant tower at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour.